Hardeep Singh Puri

Hardeep Singh Puri is an Indian politician and a retired diplomat. He is a 1974-batch Indian Foreign Service officer who served as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 and chaired the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2014, became a Rajya Sabha member in 2018, and has served as the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas since July 2021, having also held the Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio.

Puri’s documented appearance in connection with Jeffrey Epstein stems from records released by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to The Wire, the DOJ released Epstein files on January 30, 2026 that included email exchanges between Puri and Epstein spanning June 2014 to June 2017. The Wire reported that in a November 13, 2014 email, Puri wrote to Epstein and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman outlining “investment opportunities in India’s growing internet sector,” referencing discussions about Hoffman visiting India and the Modi government’s digital initiatives. The News Minute similarly reported that Epstein introduced Puri to Hoffman in September 2014 and that Puri’s November 2014 correspondence discussed projected internet subscriber growth and employment potential in India.

Puri has publicly addressed the emails. According to The News Minute, at a February 11, 2026 press conference at the BJP headquarters, Puri said he had referenced initiatives such as “Digital India” and “Make in India” in his November 2014 messages, framing this as evidence that he understood the direction of the Modi government; he also stated, “In November 2014, I was a private citizen.” The Wire reported that, across press conferences and television interviews, Puri characterized his contact with Epstein as a small number of meetings — “three or maximum four” over eight years — and, asked about a December 2014 email referencing Epstein’s “exotic island,” said, “I have an expression I use with everybody… Don’t read any meaning into that.”

Is Hardeep Singh Puri in the Epstein files?

Yes. Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Union Petroleum Minister and a former diplomat, is named in the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice, which include email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein from 2014 onward — among them a November 13, 2014 message about investment in India’s internet sector that Puri has acknowledged sending. Puri has publicly explained the emails as part of his efforts to promote India’s economic and digital initiatives and has said he was a private citizen at the time. Being named in the files is not evidence of any crime or wrongdoing. See the sources above for the specific, documented context, and the note at the bottom of this page.

Documents

Primary-source records that name or reference Hardeep Singh Puri. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing.

• DOJ Epstein Files (full release) — The Justice Department records released on January 30, 2026, include the 2014–2017 email exchanges between Puri and Epstein, among them the November 13, 2014 message about investment in India’s internet sector that Puri has acknowledged sending, as reported by The Wire and The News Minute.